Karnataka: Governor Vala returns controversial Real Estate Bill

Governor Vajubhai Vala’s refusal to sign the bill has come as a setback to Karnataka Congress government's plan to bring changes to the real estate opportunities in the state.

Earlier, Opposition party (BJP) leader and former chief minister Jagadish Shettar had termed the Bill as 'anti-people', and created to support real estate builders. He had also written to the Governor in this regard.

According to the current Urban Development Act, 15% of the total land given for planning any layout should be reserved for parks and playgrounds. Also, 10 percent of the land should be kept aside for civic amenities.

But according to the Amendment Bill, any builder designing a layout need only reserve 10 percent land for parks and playgrounds and 5 percent for civic amenities. Rest of the land can be used for buildings.

The amendment bill reduces the need for 'public space' in a layout to 15 percent as against 25 percent in the original Act.

The government has justified its stance by saying that the government layouts are far behind the private ones in competition. So we need to build all amenities necessary in this competitive field, it says.

But environmentalists have accused the government of reducing the green belt and supporting concretisation.

• Governor Vajubhai Vala
• Karnataka real Estate Bill